In 2023, Angola made moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Human Rights Provincial Committees of 7 of the country's 18 provinces conducted several awareness-raising events on human trafficking, including lectures, conferences, radio programs, fairs, and forums for law enforcement officials, students, teachers, journalists, and health services staff. Moreover, awareness-raising campaigns aimed at parents, farmers, and construction companies in Bengo province significantly decreased the number of child labor cases in the region. The government also increased the labor inspectorate budget by almost $1.4 million. However, despite these efforts, Angola's laws on child trafficking for forced labor exploitation do not meet international standards since prohibitions require the use of threats, violence, coercion, fraud, or abuse to be established for the crime of child trafficking. Additionally, laws prohibiting the commercial sexual exploitation of children do not sufficiently meet international standards since they do not criminalize the use, procuring, and offering of a child for pornographic performances. The number of labor inspectors is also likely insufficient for the size of Angola's workforce, and social programs do not target children subjected to certain worst forms of child labor, including commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.
| Children | Age | Percent of Population |
|---|---|---|
| Working | 5 to 14 | 15.1% (1,246,354) |
| Hazardous Work by Children | 15 to 17 | Unavailable |
| Attending School | 5 to 14 | 69.4% |
| Combining Work and School | 7 to 14 | 13.6% |
| Sector/Industry | Activity |
|---|---|
| Agriculture | Farming, including plowing, harvesting, watering crops, and picking fruits and vegetables. Herding and grazing animals. Fishing, including artisanal fishing.† |
| Industry | Artisanal diamond mining. Construction,† including breaking† and loading stones onto trucks, carpentry,† building gravel roads, and transporting bricks. Working in animal slaughterhouses.† |
| Services | Street work, including vending,† working in shops and markets, washing cars and assisting with the parking of cars, shining shoes, begging, recycling metals and plastics, scavenging,† collecting garbage and scrap iron, and transporting heavy loads.† Domestic work. |
| Categorical Worst Forms of Child Labor‡ | Forced labor in agriculture, factories, construction, fisheries, artisanal diamond mining, and domestic work. Commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking. Use in illicit activities, including transporting of illicit goods across the border of Angola and Namibia, sometimes as a result of human trafficking, and drug trafficking. |
† Determined by national law or regulation as hazardous and, as such, relevant to Article 3(d) of ILO C. 182.
‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.
Children at Higher Risk
Undocumented Congolese migrant children enter Angola for work in diamond-mining districts, and some are subjected to forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation in mining camps. Girls as young as age 12 are subjected to human trafficking from Kasai Occidental in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Moreover, Angolan boys are taken to neighboring countries and forced to herd cattle or work as couriers to transport illicit goods.
Barriers to Education Access
Refugee children face difficulties in continuing their education beyond age 11 since their status is directly connected to their parents' refugee cards, which are not accepted by secondary schools. Reports further indicate that children associated with the LGBTQIA+ community, specifically trans children, are less likely to finish their compulsory education due to discrimination from classmates, teachers, and school administrators. In addition, although education is free up to the ninth grade, families often face difficulty in paying informal school fees, such as for textbooks, and at times, bribes are requested by some education officials for new admissions or passing grades. Reports further indicate that over 2 million school-age children in the country do not currently attend school due to a lack of classrooms and teachers. Additionally, poor infrastructure, including the lack of sanitation facilities, disproportionately affects girls' attendance, especially at the secondary school level. Lack of birth registration and proper identification documents is yet another barrier to children accessing education in Angola since they are only permitted to attend school up to the sixth grade without either of these documents. Although the government issued over 5 million birth registration cards and 2.6 million identification cards during its "Massive Registration Campaign," the project ended at the end of 2023.
| Standard | Age | Meets International Standards | Legislation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Age for Work | 14 | ✗ | Articles 1, 10, 36, 37, 42, 43, and 318 of the Labor Law |
| Minimum Age for Hazardous Work | 18 | ✓ | Articles 3 (w) and 39 of the Labor Law |
| Identification of Hazardous Occupations or Activities Prohibited for Children | ✓ | Article 39 of the Labor Law; Hazardous Work List | |
| Prohibition of Slavery, Debt Bondage, and Forced Labor | ✗ | Articles 71(j-l), 175, 177, 178, 180, and 383 of the Penal Code | |
| Prohibition of Child Trafficking | ✗ | Articles 71(j-l), 175, 177, 178, 180, and 196 of the Penal Code | |
| Prohibition of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children | ✗ | Articles 71(j-l) and 195-198 of the Penal Code | |
| Prohibition of Using Children in Illicit Activities | ✓ | Articles 4 and 7 of the Drug Trafficking Law; Article 168 (1b and 1d) of the Penal Code | |
| Minimum Age for Voluntary State Military Recruitment | 18 | ✓ | Article 11 of the Military Service Law |
| Prohibition of Compulsory Recruitment of Children by (State) Military | ✓ | Article 2 of the Military Service Law | |
| Prohibition of Military Recruitment by Non-state Armed Groups | ✓ | Article 385(1c) of the Penal Code | |
| Compulsory Education Age | 14 | ✓ | Articles 12, 27, and 31 of the Basic Law of the Education System |
| Free Public Education | ✓ | Article 11 of the Basic Law of the Education System |
The law's minimum age protections do not apply to children working outside formal employment relationships, which is not in compliance with international standards that require all children to be protected by the law. Laws prohibiting forced labor are not sufficient as they do not criminalize practices similar to slavery or allow for the prosecution of debt bondage. Furthermore, the use of threats, violence, coercion, fraud, or abuse are required to establish the crime of child trafficking for forced labor, and prohibitions against the commercial sexual exploitation of children fail to criminalize the use, procuring, or offering of a child for pornographic performances. Therefore, the laws prohibiting child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children do not meet international standards.
Although the list of hazardous activities and occupations identifies 52 activities prohibited for children, it does not include diamond mining, a sector in which there is evidence of work conducted underground.
| Organization/Agency | Role & Activities |
|---|
| Ministry of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security (MAPTSS): Enforces laws against child labor and coordinates the Multisectoral Commission on the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor. Fines employers or sends cases to the Ministry of Interior, through the Criminal Investigation Service, for further investigation, and to the Attorney General's Office for prosecution. Employs labor inspectors in all 18 provinces to carry out inspections and joint operations with social services providers. |
| Ministry of Interior: Investigates and prosecutes cases of the worst forms of child labor through its Attorney General's Office. Enforces criminal laws and conducts operations and investigations related to the worst forms of child labor through its National Police, while its Criminal Investigations Services collaborates with the Juvenile Court on child labor, child trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, and illicit recruitment investigations. |
| Overview of Enforcement Efforts | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Has a Labor Inspectorate | Yes |
| Able to Assess Civil Penalties | Yes |
| Routinely Conducted Worksite Inspections | Yes |
| Unannounced Inspections Permitted | Yes |
| Has a Complaint Mechanism | Yes |
| Imposed Penalties for Child Labor Violations | Yes |
| Conducted Criminal Investigations for Worst Forms of Child Labor Crimes | Yes |
| Imposed Penalties for Worst Forms of Child Labor Crimes | Yes |
In 2023, 257 inspectors conducted 8,027 worksite inspections, finding 2 child labor violations. There were also 5 investigations into suspected worst forms of child labor crimes with 3 prosecutions initiated and 3 perpetrators convicted.
| Coordinating Body | Role & Activities |
|---|
| Multisectoral Commission on the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor: Addresses all issues related to the worst forms of child labor and leads the drafting, implementation, and monitoring of national plans for the elimination of child labor, including the National Action Plan to Eradicate Child Labor. Led by the Minister of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, and includes representatives from the National Children's Institute (INAC), the Ministry of Social Action, Family and the Advancement of Women (MASFAMU), and six other government agencies. During the reporting period, the Commission met once, its Technical Support Group met twice, and its Technical Working Group met monthly. |
| Policy | Description & Activities |
|---|
| National Action Plan to Eradicate Child Labor (2021–2025): Prioritizes effective, immediate, and integrated measures toward the promotion of children's rights, including through the prevention and eradication of child labor and its worst forms, by 2025. Focuses on seven principal areas: child development; social assistance; education; advocacy, accountability, and enforcement; raising children's voices; communication; and monitoring and evaluation. Each area provides specific objectives, including increasing access to education and vocational training, raising awareness of the problem at all levels of the community, strengthening relevant legal framework, and increasing the capacity of children's participation. In 2023, MAPTSS conducted trainings on topics related to child development, education, and social protection with a focus on child labor. Training participants included MAPTSS, INAC, Inspectorate General of Labor, prosecutors, and members of government and institutions that are at the forefront of defending children's rights. |
| National Action Plan on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Persons (2020–2025): Outlines Angola's strategy to address human trafficking, including domestic human trafficking, in a 5-year plan with the option of extension. Commits to specific activities designed to improve the prevention, protection and assistance, and prosecution components involved in addressing human trafficking. During the reporting period, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights conducted an awareness-raising and training workshop on human trafficking for media professionals, with support from the UN Organization on Drugs and Crime and the International Organization for Migration in Angola. The workshop aimed to train and sensitize media professionals on making the public aware of the consequences and dangers of human trafficking, as well as on reporting cases of trafficking in a sensitive and responsible manner. |
| Program | Description & Activities |
|---|
| Social Protection Programs:† National network of child support centers implemented by the government in coordination with NGOs, offering meals, shelter, basic education, and family reunification services to victims of crime, including child trafficking victims. MASFAMU and the Organization of Angolan Women operate 52 children’s shelters that assist victims of child trafficking. In 2023, center employees received training on family reunification protocols. |
| Birth Registration and Justice for Children:† Government-run program making birth registration free for all Angolan citizens. Although the program came to a close toward the end of the reporting period, reports indicate that some municipalities continued to benefit from the program allowing hundreds to receive their first identification card. |
| Mobile Schools and Free Meals for Children:† Ministry of Education program that provides education in mobile schools to migrant children who work with their parents in cattle herding. Specifically supports children at the highest risk of involvement in child labor in southern Angola. Supports some mobile schools with kitchens, facilitating the free school meals program. During the reporting period, the government, in partnership with a private company, announced the daily distribution of 250,000 school meals to 500 schools across 10 of the country's provinces through 2027. The end goal is to increase the number of daily meal distribution to 500,000. |
For information about USDOL’s projects to address child labor around the world, visit https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/ilab-project-page-search
† Program is funded by the Government of Angola.
| Area | Suggested Action |
|---|---|
| Legal Framework | Ensure that minimum age protections are extended to children working outside of formal employment relationships. |
| Ensure that laws prohibiting forced labor criminalize practices similar to slavery and allow for the prosecution of debt bondage. | |
| Ensure that laws do not require the use of threats, violence, coercion, fraud, or abuse to establish the crime of child trafficking for forced labor exploitation. | |
| Ensure that the use, procuring, and offering of a child for pornographic performances is criminalized. | |
| Ensure that the law prohibits hazardous occupations or activities for children in all relevant sectors in Angola, including diamond mining. | |
| Enforcement | Increase the number of labor inspectors from 257 to 369 to ensure adequate coverage of the labor force of approximately 14.75 million workers. |
| Ensure that the Ministry of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security receives adequate resources to conduct inspections in sectors in which child labor is known to occur, including in the informal sector. | |
| Ensure rural areas have adequate access to social services, including social services centers and housing shelters. | |
| Coordination | Increase the government's capacity to aggregate and synthesize data on human trafficking cases. |
| Social Programs | Develop and expand existing social programs to ensure that all children have access to education and are not restricted by informal fees, lack of birth certificates, lack of teachers and classrooms, or poor school infrastructure. |
| Enhance efforts to eliminate barriers and make education accessible for all children, including children from the LGBTQIA+ community, specifically trans children. | |
| Institute programs to support children subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor and expand existing programs to address the full scope of the child labor problem. | |
| Ensure that refugee children are not hindered from continuing their education beyond age 11 by creating a process for them to obtain the requisite identity documents. |
